Restoration and the Preservation of Ancient Buildings. 13 



was my personal experience of a somewhat unnecessary and trouble- 

 some correspondence with the executive of one of the societies that 

 has figured most prominently in this controversy, owing to the 

 society going out of its way to take up a matter that it might very 

 well have let alone. 



With regard to restoration here in Bradford, I never was inside 

 the Parish Church before its restoration, but I think it must have 

 lost in interest, as a consequence of that operation. I remember, 

 at any rate, noticing, when I looked over the Church with the late 

 Canon Jones, one or more pillars, 1 introduced at the restoration, of 

 what I considered a very objectionable design, viz., with scrolls 

 wound round them. It was explained to me that the donor desired 

 to have "Boslin" pillars, but that they could very easily be rectified, 

 in the future, by removing the scroll. Boslin pillars they are not, 

 and, if they were, they would be very much out of place. The 

 twisted pillar, at Boslin, has a beauty of its own. These have 

 none, and it hardly seems satisfactory to introduce a feature which 

 will require to be rectified, in the future, by the removal of what 

 was intended to be its ornament. 



Considerable care was taken in dealing with the small Saxon 

 Church, in the matter of restoration, and I don't suppose that 

 much fault will be found with what was done there. 



I now come to the fine house that was built by one of the Hall 

 family, apparently early in the seventeenth century. This house 

 looks particularly well, when seen from below, as from a spot near 

 the Barton farm and bridge. I had once the advantage of being 

 shown over the house, by the late Mr. Stephen Moulton, to whom 

 great credit is due for restoring it, as a dwelling-house, after it had 

 fallen to meaner uses. Mr. Moulton pointed out to me one small 

 alteration, that he had made, which I thought a mistake, though I 

 could not very well tell him so, and I should probably not have 

 found it out, if he had not drawn attention to it himself. On one 

 of the fireplaces were certain bosses or spherical projections, which 



1 Written before I re-visited the Church, with the Society. The number is two. 



